The scene was typical of what happened in many homes across the country Sunday. When Abby Wambach of the U.S. women’s team headed in the tying goal late in the World Cup quarterfinal victory over Brazil on Sunday, the celebration was spontaneous in the Horan family home in Golden.

The most excited was Lindsey Horan, 17, who last year was the leading scorer for the U.S. women’s U-17 team and is already committed to head to the University of North Carolina in the fall of 2012.

“My parents and I jumped up and were screaming,” Lindsey said.

At the Stanton household in Lakewood, a similar celebration ensued. Morgan Stanton, 16, and a member of the national U-17 program this year, had been glum as she watched the game with her parents.

“I kind of thought it was over, actually,” she confessed. And, after Wambach’s late goal, when the game went to penalty kicks, she covered her eyes, deciding she couldn’t bear to watch.

“But I kept peeking,” she said with a laugh. “I cheated. And then when we won, I was so happy.”

Horan and Stanton, who will be juniors at Bear Creek High this fall, were recalling the experience earlier this week at Powderhorn Park in Littleton, where several age-group teams in the Colorado Rush’s powerhouse club program practiced through the late afternoon rains.

The World Cup was a major part of the girls’ discussions, and plans were made where the players would watch today’s 10 a.m. U.S.-France semifinal and, if the Americans advance, the Sunday championship game against Sweden or Japan.

“So many people look down at women’s soccer and don’t even watch it,” Horan said. “Now that we beat Brazil, I think more people will be watching the games. If we actually win the World Cup, I think people will be looking at us more and it will be good for women’s soccer.”

Said Stanton: “We’ve been trying to make changes in our national system on the women’s side of it, to get technically better. We brought in some new coaches. I think winning the World Cup would show that the changes are starting to work and pay off.”

The Rush’s Annie Kunz, 18, a track and soccer star at Wheat Ridge High who will enroll at Texas A&M this fall, also has attended national team camps and is a candidate for future national squads.

“If they win the World Cup, I think it will set the bar higher for everyone in the national program,” Kunz said. “I really hope they win, and I think they can do it. There will be more idols for us to look up to as players.”

Former Mullen High standout Morgan Kennedy, 19, was Horan’s teammate on the Rush’s W-League team in the recently completed season, and she will be a sophomore at Oregon State this fall.

“I think we’re getting better as the tournament has gone on,” she said of the national team. “Bracket play was a little shaky, and the Sweden (loss) was a hiccup, but I think they’ve been able to learn a lot and overcame a huge opponent in Brazil. I thought it was over. They showed the tenacity and passion and got it done.”

This is striking: When the Mia Hamm-led U.S. women won the third World Cup tournament in 1999, and the hope of the sport’s proponents was that it would propel both the sport and the women’s game to new heights in this country, this wave of young stars at the Rush practice was very young. To the country, it has been 12 years. To them, it has been a relative eternity since Brandi Chastain made the winning penalty kick against China.

“Isn’t that when Brandi took off her shirt?” asked Stanton, who was 4 at the time.

Well, yes, it was.

“I have the book, but I don’t really remember it,” Stanton said. “Brandi Chastain was my favorite player, though. I wear No. 6 because of her. I’ve been No. 6 since I was 4. I thought she was really cool and even with that winning penalty kick, she took it with her left foot and I thought that was really cool.”

Said Morgan Kennedy: “Everytime I see it, I get goosebumps. I was always going into soccer, but seeing that World Cup, seeing the excitement and passion, seeing little girls look up to them, that made me want to stick with it.”

This week, at least, pending the semifinals and perhaps the championship, Wambach is the iconic figure in the U.S. game.

Horan met Wambach three years ago when the U.S. national team veteran spoke to the girls attending a national program U-14 camp. Horan was a longtime admirer of the now-retired Hamm and will be succeeding her in the storied North Carolina collegiate program. But she also admits her favorite player is high-scoring Argentinian forward Lionel Messi.

“I know a lot of girls my age look up to the women, but my goal is to be one of the best players in world, so I look up to one of the best players in world — Messi.”

Annie Kunz’s father, Terry, and Terry’s cousin, Lee, both were Wheat Ridge High stars, too, and played in the NFL. She said that her father has come around to enjoying soccer because of her involvement.

“My dad’s still working on my uncle, though,” she said with a smile.

Two more victories, and even the soccer skeptics might be cheering for the U.S. women.

A graduate of Wheat Ridge High School and the University of Colorado, Terry Frei has been named a state's sportswriter of the year six times -- three times each in Oregon and Colorado. He mainly covers college football and hockey for The Post. He's the author of seven books, including the novel "Olympic Affair" about Colorado's Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic decathlon champion.